Moving towards compassionate assessments – A simple guide
by Amanda Miller and Alice Graeupl
Dr Alice Graeupl is the Lead Innovation Scholar for Authentic and Flexible Assessment. She is a Senior Lecturer based in the Department of Marketing, International Business and Tourism, Faculty of Business and Law and a Senior Fellow of AdvanceHE. Alice also leads on Awarding and Progression Gap in her department.
Dr Amanda Miller is a Reader in Tourism Education based in the Department of Marketing, International Business and Tourism, Faculty of Business and Law, Principal Fellow of AdvanceHE and an Alumni Lead Innovation Scholar. Amanda is the Tourism Subject Lead in her department and leads on supporting educational scholarship in the faculty.
What if education focused on understanding each other’s experiences rather than just grades? Imagine higher education policies rooted in compassion, empathy, and a deep understanding of trauma. What if we created trauma-informed assessment and feedback policies based on the principles of authentic assessment that prioritise the wellbeing of students and staff over students’ academic performance?
We pose this challenge to all readers: consider your assessment regulations and policies through the lens of equity-centred, trauma-informed education, as suggested by Thompson and Carello (2021). They argue that trauma-informed teaching is not merely a set of strategies, but a paradigm shift that involves understanding how trauma impacts students and educators both individually and collectively. This approach aims to create learning environments where all students feel safe and supported while acknowledging the effects of trauma on wellbeing and its varied impact on individuals. Integrating trauma-informed practices can transform educational spaces to support healing and growth, requiring changes in teaching, assessment design, feedback, and interactions with students and staff.
The goal: Sensitive assessments and constructive, empathetic feedback within a caring, compassionate culture: Develop policies that not only assess academic performance but also foster resilience, connection, and growth. Assessments should be flexible, allowing students various ways to demonstrate their understanding, and feedback should be encouraging and developmental, helping students build on strengths and improve with confidence.
Key aspects to support the introduction of an authentic assessment strategy and an inclusive feedback practice
Empower staff and give them room to be creative
This policy needs to be supported by staff development workshops on, for example, race awareness and showcasing academics’ effective practice in designing globally informed curricula and assessments. Enable staff to create more inclusive assessments ideally resulting in positive outcomes for targeting differential awarding gaps as data showed reduced attainment gaps between student groups. The aim is to make staff feel more confident designing assessments for diverse needs, and ensure students feel more supported and treated fairly.
Assessment options and choice
Offering flexible choices in topics, for example pick from different organisations, geographical contexts or consumer proformas. The assessments allow for integration of students’ own lived experiences in a choice of formats including creative pieces such as vlogs and blogs but also more traditional written or oral presentation formats. They also acknowledge students’ circumstances, which fosters ownership and relevance, while boosting engagement and wellbeing.
Ensure there is a thorough student voice mechanism outside of the big surveys to allow students to give more informal feedback, such as student representative meet ups.
Suggestion of considerations and changes to be made:
1. A bespoke department assessment strategy
Develop a bespoke assessment strategy moving beyond the quality assurance processes and calling for inclusive approaches to assessment, international global case studies and industry informed assessments.
2. A feedback and feedforward policy
Implement a consistent feedback approach e.g. three good things, three areas for improvement, and hyperlinked resources such as library workshops and study skills guides.
3. Streamlining of assessments to reduce student and staff workload
Streamline assessments to reduce the number of assessment points and focus on quality outcomes. This will reduce workload for both students and staff.
4. Flexibility and agility in assessment design
Assessment briefs are reviewed annuals. The assessment approval process is fluid and responsive, thanks to internal moderators and external examiners.
5. Introduction of multi-faith calendar to foster inclusivity
With more frequent assessment, ensure to consult a multi-faith calendar that considers religious holidays when scheduling assessment deadlines. This way, students’ diverse religious beliefs and practices are accommodated, and it shows commitment to a culturally diverse learning environment.
6. Curriculum review and programme connectedness
Continuously review the suitability of assessments and how they fit across the programme. The Programme leader should always be consulted before considering changes.
7. The establishment and continued presence of a community of practice for teaching and learning
We recommend the creation of an online community of practice to bring staff together and share their teaching and learning practice. These workshops and sessions should focus on topics that responds to student voice and staff development needs and reinforce the intent of the assessment strategy and feedback policy.
8. Evaluation of changes
Continuously monitor student voice from formal (e.g. NSS) to informal (course rep meetings) feedback mechanisms.
References
Miller, A., Graeupl, A. and Antoniadou, M. (2023) ‘Leveraging the pandemic response to ensure a legacy for assessment and feedback practice’. Chartered Association of Business Schools blog, 10 July 2023. Available at: https://charteredabs.org/leveraging-the-pandemic-contingencies-to-ensure-a-positive-sustained-legacy-for-assessment-and-feedback-practice
Graeupl, A., Miller, A. and Antoniadou, M. (2025) Compassionate assessments in HE: using a trauma-informed approach to develop an assessment design strategy and feedforward practice. Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, (35). Available at https://doi.org/10.47408/jldhe.vi35.1317
Thompson, P. and Carello, J. (2021) ‘Envisioning change: writing the stories we need to read’, in J. Carello and P. Thompson (eds) Lessons from the Pandemic: Trauma-Informed Approaches to College, Crisis, Change. London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 1-11. Available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83849-2_1
